Investigators say storage shed wasn't a meth lab after all

Columbia County investigators now say they can't prove equipment found in a backyard storage shed was being used to make methamphetamine.

Deputies were called just after midnight Sunday to home on the 4000 block of Evans-to-Locks Road, near Blue Ridge Drive, by a woman who said she suspected her brother was making drugs, according to a sheriff's office incident report.

The 44-year-old woman said she'd smelled an odd odor coming from the storage shed, and when she tried to look inside her 41-year-old brother shoved her. She dialed 911, and her brother left the property, the report stated.

When deputies arrived, the sister gave them permission to force open the door of the shed, the report stated. Once inside, deputies found "items used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine."

The incident was turned over to narcotics investigators, said Columbia County Sheriff's Office Capt. Steve Morris, who later downplayed the find.

"After further investigation, there was insufficient evidence to prove that an illegal narcotic was manufactured in that building," Morris said.

Nothing was seized from the residence, and no arrests are pending, Morris added.